Little Burdens
by Jyo-Chan
Summary: A friend in need…  -Alternative Universe-  Miles/Phoenix  -No Pairings-


A friend in need… [Alternative Universe] Miles/Phoenix [No Pairings]

Not that this is my first story on this particular fandom (though, I don't know if word prompts count as a 'story'), but still; it's new (to me) and it's almost scary…

I hope I do not disappoint.

For my Special Someone, because you deserve this and so much more from me, that of which, I could not give.

* * *

On the first day that Miles didn't come to school, Phoenix already knew that something was wrong. So when he and his parents pulled up to the city hospital later on in the week, he couldn't help but pale at the thought that he was right; something had gone wrong.

While he had never disliked hospitals, he couldn't say he liked them either. At this point, he still couldn't tell which emotion it was, but it was swaying a little bit more towards the 'dislike'.

"Come on, Phoenix," his father said as he ushered him along after coming back from the nurses' desk, "We know which room Miles is in."

"Everything is going to be alright," his mother said soothingly as they walked towards the elevators together.

Phoenix merely nodded, unsure of what to do or how to act in such an environment. There were people crying in the waiting room, a few had little to no emotions on their face while some looked happy beyond belief. It seemed like such a contradictory world, he couldn't help but feel muddled.

When they reached the door to Miles' room, he couldn't help but look back at his parents with a worried look on his face. They smiled, nodded and gestured for him to go on in. With a subtle swallow, he turned back towards the door, gripped the handle with both hands and paused.

_What am I supposed to say?_

Phoenix turned back to his parents one more time, who were now sitting on the many white plastic chairs by the white wall, looking for a sign from them of some sort, but all he got was that smile and another reassuring gesture.

He swallowed again, pulled on the handle and quietly made his way inside.

His stomach shook as he took in the sight of the room. It was dark; the curtains were drawn. There was only one bed; it was a private room. No gifts of flowers, cards, balloons or toys were by the bed; nobody has come to visit. Then he realized he hadn't brought anything either and a feeling of shame washed over him as he looked down at his all-too-empty hands.

"I'm not hungry…"

Phoenix's head perked up at the quiet voice and almost forgot to close the door behind him as he dashed towards the bedside.

"Miles!" He almost shouted, but remembered his 'hospital voice' and kept it to an acceptable level.

Miles, though he had been facing the wall, quickly turned at the familiar voice and immediately sat up on his bed, "Phoenix? What are you doing here?"

Phoenix almost jumped up onto the bed but opted to drag a nearby chair closer to stand on it instead, "Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, completely bypassing the earlier question.

A look passed over the boy's face but he was quick to get rid of it, though, not quick enough for Phoenix not to notice. "There's nothing to talk about. What are you doing here." He asked in a clipped tone.

He shook his head and stared on with determination, "Are you sick? Is that why you're in the hospital?" He pressed on.

"No, I'm not sick."

"Are you hurt? Did you trip?"

He frowned, "No, I'm not hurt."

"Are you here for a check-up? Why is it taking so long?"

"I-" He suddenly snapped, "Stop asking so many questions, it's irritating."

Phoenix didn't understand; "Why are you in the hospital, then?"

Miles' frown deepened and he fought to make sure his fists stayed clenched on the blanket, not pummeling towards his friend's face. He was almost thankful that his friend's attention span wasn't all that long as the boy turned to look around the room, though he wished that Phoenix hadn't asked the next question;

"Hey, where's your dad?" He asked as he looked around the lonely room from one wall to another; the father wasn't around for some reason.

Another looked passed Miles' face, and despite his attempt at trying to school it to a blank feature, he could not. And when Phoenix turned back to look at Miles, he knew that he had obviously asked the wrong question, though he did not know why. "Miles?"

He bit his bottom lip as he turned away to look at his clenched fists on the rumpled blanket, they were shaking ever so slightly.

"Miles?" Phoenix began again as he leaned closer, almost completely on the bed rather than just leaning on it. "Miles? What's wrong?"

He opened his mouth, but almost immediately went back to bite on his bottom lip; he didn't trust his voice enough to say anything.

"I…" Phoenix began again, but wasn't sure how to continue; was there something he was supposed to do or ask first? He wasn't certain. He copied the other; chewed on his bottom lip, allowed the silence to stretch on, and it wasn't until his lip started to hurt terribly that he decided to say something, "I don't know what to do to make you feel better if you don't tell me what's wrong."

A breath escaped Miles as he unclenched his hand from the blanket and realized they were sweating. "Please, Phoenix, I'm not capable of speaking coherently at this point in time." He almost begged as he held the loose fist to his face, the heel of his palm pushing onto his cheek.

Phoenix pressed on, more determinedly than ever before, "You don't have to speak coherently; you just have to _speak_!"

A small part of Miles wondered if Phoenix even knew what the word 'coherently' meant, but there was also another part of him that knew exactly what Phoenix was trying to do and he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.

The silence grew once more.

Phoenix wondered if Miles was ever going to open up to him about what happened, but as he continued to stare at his silent friend, it seemed as though it was an unlikely scenario. He was never one to give up and just let it go, but he knew the boundaries, and this was one he cannot cross; it was much too fragile to be crossed, though he had no idea why.

His shoulders sagged minutely in defeat as he slowly pulled himself off the hospital bed; Miles liked his space after all. But then he noticed the shaking.

"…Miles?" Phoenix spoke softly as he reached out to his friend's shoulders.

"Just shut up for a minute." He bit out before the other could place a touch on his shaking frame.

Phoenix did so, and waited patiently, although a bit anxiously as his friend, his _best_ friend, took shuddering breath after shuddering breath. It took many of those before the shaking slowly subsided enough for Miles to give him an appearance of calmness even though, clearly, he was anything but.

Questions gathered and pooled at Phoenix's mouth, but he bit his lip and held back; he will not speak unless spoken to. Though he was never the patient type, he still knew the limits, and now is not a good time to push those limits.

Repeatedly, Miles open and shut his mouth over and over again, as though he was fighting a battle within himself. And whenever Miles shut his mouth, Phoenix would open his, though whenever Miles opened his, Phoenix would clamp his shut.

It didn't look as though the both of them were going to get anywhere at this rate, but eventually, Miles opened up.

He drew in a shuddering breath, then gave a shaky sigh, "If I did something really bad; something really, really, _really_ bad," he started slowly and dreaded finishing what he started but forced himself to, "Would you hate me?" He asked with a quiet voice as he stared at his best friend with a furrowed look about his face, his hands both clenched onto the blanket for silent support.

The question shocked Phoenix and threw him, but he jumped onto the bed; too close for comfort but with both his feet safely off the mattress, "I could never hate you! No matter what you did!"

Phoenix jumping onto the bed surprised him a little, but he brushed the notion aside, "What if it was really bad?" Miles insisted, "Bad enough to go to trial!"

"Then I'll defend you!" He answered immediately, with determination, "I'll defend you and I'll prove that you could never do anything bad!"

Miles chewed on his bottom lip, "But what if I did!"

He shook his head furiously, "Miles Edgeworth would _never_ do anything bad! You're not a bad guy."

He opened his mouth to protest some more, to try and make a point and get it across, to insist on some form of understanding, but rather than that, his shoulders sagged a little and he smiled a little smile instead.

"Ok." He said in the end.

Phoenix paused, briefly, then smiled too, brighter and more brilliantly than Miles, but happy that they've both come to an agreement together. "Ok!"

There was a small part of him that questioned which part they both agreed on; was it this or was it that or was it the same one or a completely different one? But it didn't matter because Miles was smiling and he said 'ok'. That was all that mattered for him.

* * *

When visiting hours were over (he ended up staying for almost three hours on his own, but time flew by much quicker than he had anticipated), he didn't want to leave, but he promised Miles that he'd come to see him again soon.

Miles said 'ok' as Phoenix waved and left the room.

When Phoenix met with his parents again, the both of them were nursing a cup in both hands and had a small plastic bag on another chair beside them; there was a sandwich and a box of grape juice inside for Phoenix.

"Can we come back tomorrow?" He asked as he swung the small plastic bag back and forth as they walked out of the building, "It's the weekend." He added as they walked towards their parked car not too far away.

"Of course we can." His father said as he brought out the car keys from his pocket and pushed the button to unlock all the car doors.

"We can go buy something for Miles too, if you want." His mother offered as they climbed into the vehicle and clipped on their seat-belts.

"Ok!" He jumped at the opportunity, "I wanna get him a balloon!" Everybody loved balloons, after all.

His father chuckled as he started up the engine, put a hand behind the passenger seat and turned to reverse the car out of the park, "You should bring him a toy too, so he won't get too bored."

"Great idea, dad!" And he knew just which one he wanted to bring for Miles too.

As they drove all the way back home, the car filled with excited chatter from Phoenix with the occasional input from either parents, he couldn't help but want to get to sleep earlier tonight so he could go see Miles sooner the next day.

It was unfortunate he couldn't quite force himself to get to sleep earlier than usual but managed to some late hour into the night.

Then in the morning, though he felt deprived of sleep because of the tossing and turning during the previous night, he didn't mind it all too much because, today, he'll get to see Miles again.

With a toy in hand and a balloon with a card in his sloppy handwriting attached to it in another, Phoenix all but ran ahead of his parents and up to the hospital with a bright smile on his face. He still couldn't say he disliked it, or liked it, but for now, it was safe in neutral grounds.

Though, when he went up to Miles' room, his opinion of the hospital swayed vehemently towards the 'dislike'.

Miles was gone.

* * *

…A friend indeed…


End file.
